Has anyone had experience of tonsilitis in dogs?

Mum's bitch has this - we only found it when I took her hillwalking and she collapsed due to lack of oxygen.  I thought it was dehydration, but she wouldn't drink.  The first vet thought it was maybe her heart, so we were going to do an ECG.  The second vet we saw (after she starting rasping again a week later after running 100yds) did a thorough check before doing this and found she had swollen tonsils.  The antibiotics (1 week) reduced the swelling on one side, but not on the other.

My questions are:

(1)  Is one week enough?  I did a bit of research and found one website which recommended 2-3 weeks antibiotics. Has anyone managed to cure their dog of this and what was used? (It seems tonsillectomies on dogs are not done)

(2)  Someone had mentioned to us that this may be a secondary symptom of something else.  Any ideas on this?

She is normally a really fit dog; she was running a mile or so 3 times a week before this, and loved it.  She really misses it, but I daren't take her until she is 100% better.

 

As you have heard, tonsils swell up (as do other glands) in response to generalised infection, and tonsillitis is rarely an isolated illness. I would be concerned that something else is going on, so would recommend further veterinary investigation. It can be associated with pharyngitis, again usually a symptom of an infectious disease, or the swallowing of a foreign body. What breed is the bitch?

Hope you get to the bottom of this.

Hi Jeangenie,

thanks for the reply.  She's a Bernese, and seems healthy enough in most other ways.  I doubt there would be any likelyhood of anything having been swallowed; she stopped eating anything else but food when she was spayed!

She used to think she was a greyhound, and has always been healthy enough.

As she's a Bernese, it's unlikely to be due to elongated soft palate (that's a brachycephalic breed problem), which means it's most likely due to an undiagnosed generalised infection. (Compare it to yorself when you've got flu or something - you get a sore throat.) She's fighting off some sort of infection, so keep an eye on her and don't force her to do stuff if she doesn't feel up to it.

We don't.  We're blessed with lots of empty fields around here at the moment - if she wants to run about she can; if she doesn't feel like it she gets a leisurely stroll.

Most days she is full of beans but she has the odd off day when she obviously doesn't feel right.

I just wondered whether it might be worth suggesting (nicely) to the vet that a longer course of antibiotics might be needed?

Which antibiotic has been tried? If a broad-spectrum one hasn't worked, then I would suggest that perhaps swabs could be taken to ascertain exactly which bacterium is causing the problem and a specific antibiotic prescribed.

Hi,
One of my dogs  had his tonsils out, please see my post titled research Help needed any more questions feel free to ask.

Bev